


A Bad Track Record

by windsroad



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 11:09:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14283609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windsroad/pseuds/windsroad
Summary: Lex Luthor has escaped and everyone suspects Lena had something to do with it. Winn understands how that feels.I don't even go here, but I was rewatching Supergirl and waxing emotional... so sorry if any of what Winn says is too close to things people actually say in the show. I may have absorbed too much of it while watching.





	A Bad Track Record

Winn had been working in his lab at the DEO when the news broke about Lex Luthor. He spun in his chair to watch the nearby screen running the news from CatCo—Lex had broken out of prison and was suspected of being in National City. Some kind of message about family being an easy target. Either he was after his own family, or he was after Superman’s, and both were conveniently located in the same place.

Winn carefully set down a tool and settled deeper into his seat to watch the news develop. Lex Luthor was a serious villain, he knew—one which Superman had barely been able to put away. They were announcing shutdowns of all major government offices Kara—Supergirl—flew in, upsetting the papers and gadgets he had sitting before him.

Along with her was Lena Luthor.

“Just stay here, in the DEO,” said Supergirl, motioning for Lena to stay where she was. “You’ll be safe here. If Lex tries to contact you, tell me, okay? I’ll—I’ll contact my cousin. We’ll figure this out.” Supergirl looked around with a distracted expression and moved to take off.

“Ah—hello?” Winn interjected. “Supergirl? Anything I can do to help?”

“Stay here with Lena. I’ll let you know; I’ll be right back.” And she was gone once again.

Lena sighed heavily and paced through the room. “It never convinces anyone,” she said, squinting her eyes and rubbing her forehead. “No one could possibly believe that I’m not going down the same path as my brother. And mother. I was proud to be adopted be the Luthors, but now…”

Winn spun back around in his chair and watched Lena.

_Could Lena Luthor, sister to Lex Luthor, be a target—or an accomplice?_ announced the news broadcaster. Lena threw her hands up in the air as Winn scrambled to shut off the screen.

“Lex does something and everyone thinks I’ll know about it,” she said, leaning her head back and covering her face. “Either my own brother wants to kill me or I’m helping him kill Supergirl. I can’t get out from under it. It’s going to follow me the rest of my life.”

It reminded Winn of when his father escaped from prison. He felt like he was watching a copy of himself before his eyes—a richer, more famous copy of himself, but similar nonetheless.

“I know how you feel,” he said, crossing his arms and looking away. “That kind of reputation—it’s like—a scar on your name. You walk around with a brand.”

Lena turned and looked at Winn carefully, eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Ah-We met a few times. Technically.”

“You’re friends with Kara Danvers.”

Winn nodded. “My name’s Winn—Winslow Schott. Junior. Not senior.”

Lena continued to stare at him, waiting for clarification.

No take backs. Winn stood up and scratched the back of his head. “I guess I do have the benefit of the name being—slightly less well known.” Winn sighed. “You might know my... father... by the name Toyman.”

Lena stood up straight and crossed her own arms to get a better look at Winn. “Your father is Toyman.”

Winn nodded vigorously. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s him.” He felt his throat tightening. Usually he hated that look people gave him, like he was some broken creature or curious artifact about to explode, but he let it slide now. “When he escaped from prison, the Feds, they thought I was working with him. If it weren’t for Supergirl, I would have been arrested, or…” Winn trailed off and cleared his throat. “When that’s what people know you for… it’s scary. Everyone thinks you might be the same. And you’re scared you might be, too.”

Lena turned away again. “I’m not going to turn into them.”

“And I don’t want to turn into my father,” said Winn. He looked down and fiddled with the tools on his table, tried not to think of any of their similarities. “It’s hard. At least you’re adopted. But it’s in my blood. Every time something I do reminds me of him…”

“Every time I do something Lex might have…” Lena continued, nodding.

“...I wonder.”

They both paused, not looking at one another, thinking hard about the things their one-time loved ones had done and the things others thought they might still become.

“But I’ve known a few other… supervillain … type… people,” Winn said, breaking the silence. “I have a bad track record, I guess, I don’t know. But they’re always the same. They’re consumed by this _hate_ they have, they let it change them, control them.”

“Did you get through to any of them?” asked Lena. She stared at him intently.

“Well,” said Winn, stalling for time. He picked up a chip from the table and studied it. “Not exactly.”

Lena rolled her head back like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“B-but I don’t see that in you!” added Winn quickly. He shook his head and laughed a little, even though nothing about it was funny. “You’re not. Angry, like they were. You’re not consumed with some grudge. You want to do good. And eventually everyone will see that.”

Winn moved to get a better look at Lena was taking it. It was platitudes, he knew. He wouldn’t have accepted that if someone had told him the same. But it was now, trying to help another person who was scared and judged, that he thought it all might be true.

“At least, I hope they will. For me as much as you.”

Lena looked at him curiously. “Thank you, Winn,” she said, nodding slowly. “I appreciate it.”

Winn nodded back, a little more awkwardly. “Hey, if you ever want to complain about evil family members, you know who to call.”


End file.
